Lightning suspected cause of Windham house fire

WINDHAM – A fire late Wednesday night that destroyed a Forest Street home was likely caused by a lightning strike, according to the fire chief.

Fire Chief Tom McPherson said when firefighters arrived at 10 Forest St., after receiving multiple reports of a fire, half of the single-family home was already in flames.

?It's pretty much destroyed,? he said.

No one was home when the blaze broke out just as a heavy thunderstorm rolled through the town.

Friday morning, when they returned to the scene, McPherson said firefighters discovered that lightning had struck a ground-level cable box and traveled along the underground wiring, creating a trench to the house next door to the fire scene. That home did not catch fire, he said.